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[mithrarin]

The Basics
Canon: Dust: An Elysian Tail
Character Name: Dust
Character Journal: mithrarin
Player Name: Dragon
Best contact method: dragonoflife

Character Details
Canon Point: Postgame
Species: Warmblood
Timeline of Important Events in Canon History:

General Gaius begins an extermination campaign against the Moonblood race, with his close friend Cassius serving as his assassin. Cassius kills not only Moonbloods, but Warmblood sympathizers, even putting entire towns to the torch.

A reckless young boy names Jin attacks Cassius for all his crimes; Cassius kills him, but Jin manages to kill him as well. Moonblood Elder Gray-Eyes uses his power to fuse their two souls into one being known as the Sen-Mithrarin.

Dust awakens in a forest glade with no memories, but meets the Blade of Ahrah and a nimbat (a furry flying creature) named Fidget. Ahrah begins guiding him, supposedly to 'find himself', while Fidget comes along for the ride.

Finding the town of Aurora, Dust volunteers to fight the leader of the monsters attacking it. He defeats that leader Fuse, finding out from him about the Moonblood genocide.

Dust travels to an abandoned village, discovering there the truth of his nature and his creation. This troubles him.

Somewhere in all this, Dust and Fidget fight a water goddess to try to save the life of a sick person -- and fail.

Dust travels to face General Gaius. Gaius, still calling him Cassius, pushes him hard to rejoin his side, but Dust declares openly that he exists solely to oppose Cassius and those like him, and they battle.

Defeated, Gaius tells Dust nothing of Cassius is left in him, and allows himself to fall to his death in lava. Unable to move, Dust accepts his own passing as lava washes over him in turn.

Elder Gray-Eyes basically says Dust will go wherever he's needed, as his spirit rises from the volcano and takes off with Ahrah and Fidget chasing after.

Personality:

In your character's canon, what motivates or drives them to make the decisions and choices they make?

Dust is driven by three things: his two souls and his own mind. Specifically, within him, Cassius's sole craves power and fighting, urging him into battle and to challenge himself, to become stronger, to defeat his enemies. Jin's soul gives him compassion and empathy, pushing him to help others, to care, to support and defend those in need. Dust's mind is ruled by neither, though both influence him; his choice to be Dust defines who that person is.

The Dust that results is a decent sort -- quiet, but with a wry sense of humor that he probably picked up from Fidget herself. In his interactions with normal townsfolk, Dust rarely emotes very strongly, not really raising his voice or expressing extremes of emotion. Despite this seeming standoffishness, even Dust's quiet conversations carry force behind them; Dust has a very powerful personality, the sort that conveys his feelings without an excess of drama.

Mild though he may be, he doesn't refrain from adding his observations to a conversation, be they amusing, sardonic, or occasionally playful when he's poking fun at Fidget. He also isn't above having a little fun at someone else's expense, as is the case when he spends several conversations putting words in the mouth of a character who only grunts in response. Fidget is the general target of his humor, but he can take her jibes with equally good humor in turn.

For most of the game, Dust is characterized by uncertainty. He has no idea who he is, and that lack and his desire to know eat at him and undercut his confidence when he needs it most. When he finally learns the truth of his existence, even then he can't come to grips with it. Fidget is the one who grounds him, and who steadfastly tells him that no matter what his circumstances or his souls' pasts might be, Dust is Dust. Only at the end of the game, when he faces General Gaius directly, does he come to grips with who and what he is, accepting it. At that moment, his two souls and his mind seem to fuse at last into harmony -- Jin's righteous anger and conviction, Cassius's memory of his old friend and the deeds they did in the search for power, and Dust's choice. When Gaius begs him to remember who he once was, Dust's answer is simple: "I remember everything. And it changes nothing!"

Now, Dust has accepted his role: an implement of vengeance, but also one of protection.

Abilities, Magic and Supernatural Skills/Afflictions:

Sword skills: Dust is a incredibly good swordsman -- probably the best one in Falana, since he defeated General Gaius, who seems to be the only person Cassius was unable to defeat. (Both of them were ultimately so damn tough it took molten lava to take them out.) He attacks with combinations of slashes, is capable of launching foes, and can slam them into the ground with raw upper body strength so violently it creates a shockwave that hurts other enemies. He is also capable of grabbing airplanes out of the air and slamming them into the ground.

Dust Storm: On the ground, Dust can spin a sword in one hand with such speed that it creates a vortex of wind. This vortex is so strong it can extinguish large fires or haul in heavy items. When jumping, Dust spins the weapon around his body instead, using the wind the attack generates to send him flying around at incredible speed. In either case, the Dust Storm can amplify the power of magic exponentially -- a few magic missiles become a foe-seeking spellstorm of power, a couple of small orbs of fire become massive columns of fire several stories high, and a bolt of lightning becomes a sustained blast of electrical doom, just as canon examples. Dust cannot maintain the Dust Storm for too long, however, or he injures himself.

Parry: Dust can knock aside almost any attack with proper timing, staggering his foe.

Platforming Skills: Dash, double-jump, iron grip (to hold onto walls covered with vines), boost jump (propelling upwards on air currents), crouch slide... the usual sort of thing.

Twin Souls: Dust has two souls. Not so much an explicit power but it could interact with any powers that affect the soul oddly.

Immortality: Dust will explicitly keep coming back so long as there is more for him to do. The end of the game is his spirit and the Blade of Ahrah taking off for his next mission, in fact.


Dragon & Magical Element
Elemental Alignment:

Wind - Dust's natural affinity is for manipulating winds, as seen in the Dust Storm technique. Gaining further mastery over it would be logical progression. Dust's own metaphorical nature is tied strongly to wind as well -- dust, after all, is blown about by the wind.
Earth - Dust, right? Besides his own strong ties as He Who Was Born From the Dust, he's spent a lot of time in caverns or underground and actually died to lava.
Light - The power that created Dust is the 'Flameless Light', and Dust himself is in many ways a force of metaphoric 'light' in the sense of being good. Also he's come back from the dead. Manipulating light would be strongly symbolic for him.

Dragon: A giant beast that struggles to stay within the size limits of his species. Skyship is a conventional Western dragon in many aspects: four legs, two wings, usual 'draconic' shape. He has a very broad frame and comparatively small limbs, resulting in him being not terribly graceful. His forepaws have opposable thumbs and can manipulate tools, while his rear are more traditional feet. His thick scales are a cloudy blue, except for the plates on his stomach, which are greyer.

Skyskip is a capable flyer; though he has absolutely no agility in the air, his great strength and stamina let him carry significant burdens. Omnivorous, he has a particular love for fish and melons. He also loves to swim, since being underwater makes him feel lighter and more graceful.

Skyship's egg is the size of an ostriches', and is a cold frosted blue that looks almost like ice.

Personality traits inherited from Character Bond:

Compassion and helpfulness -- Skyship will generally Do The Right Thing, as far as he sees it.

Conviction -- Skyship holds strong opinions on things and heaven help anyone who disagrees with him

Understated -- like Dust, Skyship rarely gets loud or particularly agitated, although when he DOES, look out.

Writing Samples
First Sample: Test Drive
Second Sample:

"Here you go, Sky." Dust knelt down in front of the dragon, setting the melon he'd purchased down between the two of them.

Skyship had grown substantially in the few weeks he'd emerged from his egg. From a coiled-up ball of scales, he'd stretched out to about the size of a horse, and showed no signs of stopping. The motion of his foreleg, as he reached forward to prod the melon, showered a few dead scales onto the ground. He seemed to be constantly shedding them these days.

Sky looked up at Dust quizzically, trying to understand why his person had set this big old rock in front of him. Having anticipated this, Dust reached into the sack to pull out another, smaller melon. "It's your favorite, Sky. Look." Waiting till he had the dragon's attention, Dust brought the melon sharply down against the ground, cracking its rind open roughly. As he turned it over and pried it open with a hand, Sky's head bounded up a foot -- then the dragon pressed forwards, jaw open, to help himself to the treat.

"Hey! No!" Dust caught Skyship's nose with a hand, putting his body between the dragon and his food. Probably suicide if Sky had been wild, but the gentle giant wouldn't dream of hurting him. "I can't keep cutting these up for you! You're a big dragon, Sky, you have to learn to open them yourself!"

Skyship withdrew slowly, looking from Dust to the uncracked melon on the ground as the Sen-Mithrarin pointed at it. Then back to Dust. Then back to the melon.

Dust made another helpful motion as of gripping it, then cracking it. Slowly, Skyship shifted his weight off his foreleg to pick up the melon between his paws. "That's right," Dust said, soft and reassuring, as the melon slowly rose. "Just give it a good whack, and --"

Sky's fangs sank into the melon's ride with a wet crunch. Twisting his neck, the dragon pulled a huge chunk out of the melon, then tilted his head back to let it fall fully into his mouth. As the dragon's teeth worked pulp and rind both, Sky shut his eyes in delight. He did love fruit.

"That... will do fine, Sky," Dust said, midway between exasperation and fondness.

30 Day Opt-In

In the 30 days that your character has been in the city, how have they spent their time?

Dust's time has been primarily spent taking care of Skyship. The dragon's growth rate has been absolutely prodigious, meaning that a great deal of Dust's time has been spent acquiring food for the dragon, then feeding him. He has also taken his job as a Scion very seriously, focusing on training his dragon and teaching him to the best of his ability. Although eager to resume whatever his duties as the Sen-Mithrarin are supposed to be, not knowing them really puts a damper on his enthusiasm, so thus far he's been content to wait and focus on Sky.

Has the dragon hatched yet? Did their egg hatch immediately or was there time between locating their egg in the Heart of Nuren and the dragon's hatchday? How much have they grown?

Sky hatched immediately on Dust finding him. Since that time the dragon has grown past the size of a horse and shows absolutely no signs of stopping.

How have your character's interactions with the Remnants within the city been?

Positive. The Remnants are much like the people Dust is familiar with, and being a generally decent guy he's had no problem getting along with them. Though he tends to be a little aloof and distant, that doesn't stop him from offering help -- or Sky's help, as part of his training -- for their troubles and needs.

How have your character's interactions with the Touched within the city been?

Awkward. They're strange and alien to him, looking nothing like he's used to, so he's been more distant and aloof than he is with 'his own kind'. His status as a Scion keeps them respectful and he's not the sort to actually cause trouble or give anyone grief, so he and they have basically been keeping each other at a wary and respectful arm's lengths.

Has your character been living in the mountain cavern homes of Upper Nuren or within the housing areas of Lower Nuren?

The mountain cave homes.